


Penny for Your Thoughts

by HarryFreakingPotter



Series: Murphy doesn't deserve rights [2]
Category: Z Nation (TV)
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, Blend 10K (Z Nation), Gun Violence, Mental Instability, Murphy Being an Asshole, Not Beta Read, Sad 10K (Z Nation)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:00:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23695042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarryFreakingPotter/pseuds/HarryFreakingPotter
Summary: Murphy didn't have 10k stop with that Ender. After all, not everybody loves Murphy.Or: Murphy makes 10k execute other Blends who cause trouble.
Series: Murphy doesn't deserve rights [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1706365
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Penny for Your Thoughts

**Author's Note:**

> I hate this garbage I've created. Also I hate Murphy, so this heavily reflects that.

10k opened his eyes and immediately recoiled, temporarily rendered sightless by the blinding sunlight streaming in his window.

Papa always said he’d move up in the world. 10k had a sneaking suspicion that he hadn’t meant being held captive in a Spokane highrise, but you never know.

10k breathed slowly in and out, acclimating his senses before trying again. His eyelids fluttered in protest, but if it wasn’t deadly, it wasn’t important in the apocalypse.

He flexed his fingers first, wincing as the rope shifted, revealing the deep imprints left in his skin from his rest. Apparently the great savior of the human race was still afraid of a teenage boy. _Blue bastard._

The Blend waiting by the door brightened as he finally noticed his young charge awakening. “Thomas, good! I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Well that’s not fucking creepy at all. And that’s not my name, you half-dead zombie sheep.”

“Sure, sure, kid. C’mon. The big man is expecting you.”

The big man. Pa only said that when he was talking about God, back when he still believed in one. _Murphy is getting what he wants._ 10k thought gloomily as the Blend dragged him up happily, whistling as they set off.

Murphy lounged upon his throne, deep in conversation with a Blend, recently turned judging by the snarl she still could manage. Well, that and Murphy’s goons aiming for her head.

“Look, sweetheart. What’s done is done. You chose to be here, remember? You don’t get to back out now.” Murphy smirked down, backlit by a stray beam of sunlight. His gaze sharpened past the woman, caught on the boy standing stiffly in the doorway. “Thomas. How generous of you to finally show up.”

By now, 10k had developed reflexes not as easily overridden by his least favorite Smurf. “My name is Ten-Thousand. Sorry I’m late. I was too busy not giving a shit.”

“Cute, kid. Really fucking adorable.” 

The woman looked back and forth between them, gazing approvingly at 10k. “Finally, someone with some common sense here. What’s up, kid?”

10k opened his mouth, then panicked. The words felt stuck in his throat, and he stepped forward, glaring murderously at the Blue Messiah.

The Blends surged forward in a protective frenzy, halting only inches from the teen’s face, the nearest slashing through the rough ropes binding his hands together. Murphy smirked benevolently from his throne, swiveling his wrist like a burnt out zombie prom queen. “Thomas. We seem to have a situation on our hands that you are uniquely suited to deal with.”

“The hell do you mean, Murphy?” 10k spat out. _I don’t belong to you._

“The children are the future. But it seems like you should be done with this teenage angst bullshit.”

“Growing up is not a crime.” The woman, abandoned in the center of the room suddenly spoke, slowly and deliberately. 

“Alice. That’s the name, right?” At her nod, Murphy swiveled back to 10k, eyes full of glee. “You see, Alice here is becoming a bit of an issue. And she’s a hell of a lot more trouble than she’s worth.” Murphy closed the difference between himself and the teen, casually taking a proffered gun from a nearby Blend, pressing it into the young boy's hand. “Shoot her.”

 _No._ “No.”

“We’ve been through this before, kid.”

 _Not again, Murphy_. “No!”

“You seem to be under the impression that you have a choice, Thomas.” His grin widened noticeably when he caught 10k’s miniscule flinch. “Shoot the fucking gun.”

“Fuck off, Murphy!”

Alice twitched, ready to run, and 10k instinctively adjusted his line-up. “Okay, now you’re starting to piss me off." His voice tunneled into the teen's mind, tearing down anything in its path, imposing Murphy's will onto his own. Pressure increased quickly on his skull, rising until he could hear his heart thundering inside his chest, and his fingers fidgeted around the safety.

"Now!”

10k flinched back even as his hand squeezed the trigger, again and again and again, firing until the tell-tale _click_ confirmed the clip was empty.

Murphy wiped debris off his face, looking every bit the cat that ate the canary. “Now, tell me, was that so hard?”

10k’s chest heaved as he slowly disentangled his hand from the weapon, dropping it to the floor with a look of disgust.

“I asked you a question, Tommy.” Murphy called over his shoulder, followers parting before him like the Red Sea.

10k glared down at his captor, scripted words slithering traitorously up his throat. “No. It was just like the others.” 

“Good, good. Will, take him back to his room. You know the drill.”

_Just like the others._

Will clapped him on the back as they marched out, winding the corners of the complex right back to his prison. "You're a good kid, Tommy. You're not like them. You're like us." He smiled apologetically as he produced a new length of rope, winding it around the unresponsive boy's wrists. "Soon, when I can trust you, we won't have to keep doing this."

_Because they think I'll give in._

10k sank back onto his narrow cot, turning on his side to face the unrelenting yellow wallpaper.

"Penny for your thoughts, kid?"

 _You already know_ them.

**Author's Note:**

> You may have noticed I mention that 10k is young a lot. That's because I believe at this point in canon 10k is still a teen, and since they call him 'kid' until the very end of the series, he is and always will be a perpetual cinnamon roll of an angsty teenager with a taste for violence.  
> Leave comments down below! I'm always up for constructive criticism.


End file.
